Return of the Shattered Constellation - Chapter 147

Chapter 147

Gang Woo-Chan’s face reddened when Chang-Sun coldly smirked at him.

“You fuck…” Woo-Chan stopped abruptly when he saw Department Head Shim Geon-Ho hurriedly running somewhere. Turning to see what was happening, he found a middle-aged gentleman with pomaded short blond hair and his secretary approaching them. Woo-Chan flinched and immediately straightened his posture.

‘That’s Duke Bluewolf!’ Woo-Chan gritted his teeth.

When Joachim Wolff visited the White Tiger Clan head office three days ago, their employees were thrown into chaos. Joachim was one of the most famous Players in Europe, and to top it all off, he visited the White Tiger Clan as the Illuminati’s emissary. Although there had been several news articles about how the Illuminati had decided to recruit Chang-Sun, the White Tiger Clan employees thought the Illuminati members were just bluffing.

They didn’t think any differently even when Joachim came over. Although Chang-Sun was certainly a world-class celebrity, it was hard to believe a ‘Duke-Class’ high ranker would personally recruit one rookie. In fact, it was more logical to think that Joachim was using Chang-Sun as an excuse to visit Korea and secretly meet with other Clans.

Since Joachim paid the White Tiger Clan head office a visit and Executive Director Oh greeted Joachim himself at that time, the theory earned more credibility. All the employees knew that the White Tiger Clan executives had been trying to expand the Clan since after the punitive expedition against the Highoff Clan, so they believed meeting with the Illuminati was just a part of the Clan’s plan to achieve their goal.

However, it seemed the ‘meeting’ had already concluded, so the Illuminati emissaries planned to leave Korea on the same day the White Tiger Clan members departed for France. Woo-Chan couldn’t act pathetic in front of such a man, so he quickly put a stop to his hostilities, but not before warning Chang-Sun by sending him a telepathic message.

『I’ll see you soon.』

Of course, Chang-Sun just snorted right in his face, making veins pop out of Woo-Chan’s forehead and making him really want to snap at Chang-Sun.

‘Huh? Huuhh? Why is he coming toward us…?’ Woo-Chang wondered.

Weirdly enough, Joachim began walking toward him and Chang-Sun after half-heartedly exchanging greetings with Geon-Ho. Joachim was also smiling very brightly and delightedly, appearing to be extremely glad to see Woo-Chan. Since he never had talked with Joachim, his jaw goofily dropped as he wondered why Joachim was acting like this. However, Joachim just passed by Woo-Chan and suddenly shook Chang-Sun’s hand. “Oh, there you were. I’ve been looking for you!”

“Are you heading home today?” Chang-Sun asked.

“Yes, we changed our flight. I thought if I was going to return, it would be better to chat with my friend on the way.” Joachim grinned.

“We’re on the same flight, then?” Chang-Sun asked.

“Haha! That’s right. To be honest, I didn’t tell you because I wanted to surprise you, but was it impolite of me?” Joachim carefully inquired.

“No, I’m happy to know that I’ll be going with my friend.” Chang-Sun gently shook his head.

“Haha, that’s good. That’s good.” Joachim burst into laughter and continued to talk with Chang-Sun. Anyone could see that he was very delighted to meet Chang-Sun.

In contrast, Chang-Sun reacted nonchalantly, just as how he interacted with other people. The sight allowed Woo-Chan to determine who was more glad to meet the other and made him pale. He didn’t expect Chang-Sun would be acquainted with a man like Joachim.

‘Did he really visit the head office just because of Lee Chang-Sun…?’ Woo-Chan thought, ending up unwittingly hiccupping.

Hiccup!

‘I made a mistake!’ Woo-Chan bit his lower lip.

No matter how quickly he stopped acting hostile, a man like Joachim would surely have seen the staredown between him and Chang-Sun. If Joachim raised an issue regarding that, Woo-Chan would be the one to take responsibility.

However, there was someone who was more shocked than Woo-Chan.

‘How dare he…!’ Geon-Ho’s clenched fists trembled.

Joachim had just ignored Geon-Ho and headed straight to Chang-Sun. The problem was that Geon-Ho had no power or held a position that would make him powerful enough to raise a formal complaint to Joachim.

“…”

“…”

Sensing Geon-Ho’s annoyance, other employees furtively moved away from him.

“I see everyone has already arrived!” the Executive Director shouted as he showed up with three old men. Chang-Sun, the Team L members, Geon-Ho, Woo-Chan, and the rest of the Future Strategy Department members bowed at them.

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ is looking down on his sharpest and oldest claws.]

Woosh!

Although they had just shown up, the air around them became heavy—no, not just heavy. The air became so hot it was as if the airport’s air conditioner broke down. The cause had to be the auras that the three old men subconsciously emitted, not Executive Director Oh’s.

‘Are they the elders that Executive Director Oh was talking about?’ Chang-Sun’s eyes momentarily shone.

Executive Director Oh had already told Chang-Sun last night that three elders were going to join to ‘help’ him, so he was expecting them. Even so, he was still quite shocked. The three elders were more powerful than he had thought.

‘They’re truly monsters that symbolize the White Tiger Clan,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Unlike the Illuminati’s Senate, an organization that ran the Illuminati Clan, the White Tiger Clan’s Council of Elders couldn’t participate in Clan management. However, they were the ones in charge of combat. If the four Raid Teams were the White Tiger Clan’s face and body and the Future Strategy Department was the Clan’s brain and spine, then the Council of Elders was its hidden claws and fangs.

Although the Council of Elders rarely appeared in public, they always created disasters whenever they did. As a result, the public considered them ‘mysteries.’ There was even a rumor that the missing great demonic beings were hiding in the White Tiger Clan’s Council of Elders.

In truth, most of its members were first-generation Players who laid the foundation of the White Tiger Clan with the Sword Sky Tiger Munseong. Hence, even though they had retired, they were assessed as the people who had laid the groundwork for the rise of many skilled Players in Korea.

Despite all that they had done, bad rumors about the Council of Elders still existed because they acted very cruel during missions and were incomparably more unique than ordinary people. The same was true for the three elders who showed up today. They seemed so unique that approaching and befriending them proved difficult.

“Kikiki, they must be the children that have been doing a very good job in the Clan recently. I can see them becoming fine soldiers if I turn them into corpses.”

The first elder to speak was the scrawniest of the three. He seemed to have literally nothing but skin and bones and was mostly wrapped in white bandages. He smelled like a rotting corpse whenever he spoke as well.

The elder turned his head toward the people, his ominously foggy eyes making them flinch when they made eye contact with him. He was the Great Rotting Skull Demon Bu Yeong-Jin. People gave him that title because he looked like a walking corpse and because he was a first-generation necromancer that specialized in raising an Undead army mainly made up of evil spirits.

“Don’t say… that, Rotting Skull… They’ll… think… you’re… serious…” the old man standing beside Yeong-Jin scolded him, ominously trailing off.

When he spoke, the people became paler than the time Yeong-Jin did. After all, he looked the most unique and had the darkest and most dangerous aura among the three elders. The old man was two hundred and twenty centimeters tall and had a bulky physique, making even the burly Gyeo-Ul raise his head to see the old man’s face.

He also had long and shaggy hair covering most of his face, so his eyes only ever appeared every now and then. Whenever they did, they were so white that people wondered if he actually had pupils. His capillaries were the only ones that had a different color. There weren’t many of them, but they were really red and noticeable, and they looked as if they were going to burst any second.

He was the Red Goliath Tae Hong-Gak. Among the first-generation Korean Players, he had the most impressive appearance. After all, he looked like the second coming of Goliath from the Bible. His presence alone made Geon-Ho and the rest of the Future Strategy Department members tense up, knowing how infamous Yeong-Jin and Hong-Gak were. No, anyone interested in the history of Players would be on high alert if they met Yeong-Jin and Hong-Gak because of the very infamous ‘Pohang[1] Break’ incident. During their mission, they turned Pohang, a provincial focus city, into a land of death no one could live in anymore. However, their notoriety was nothing before the last elder.

“Stop it, all of you,” the last elder scolded the other two elders.

Compared to Yeong-Jin and Hong-Gak, the last elder looked relatively ordinary, but anyone could see the two were tiptoeing around him. The elder was wearing a fedora and a suit that only the people from the time of enlightenment[2] would wear. However, the pocket watch in his hand stood out the most. The last elder seemed to be the gentlest person of them all, but Chang-Sun knew he should be on the highest alert around the last elder.

‘Evil Wu Hou Jaegal[3] Hyeon-Ryong,’ Chang-Sun thought.

His surname reminded people of Zhuge Liang from Records of the Three Kingdoms, and he was actually the smartest and had the sharpest eyes among the first-generation Players. However, he never used his head to do good.

During the ‘Pohang Break,’ thousands of people howled in pain because of the demonic energy in the air. In response, he suggested killing all of them without hesitation. That was how he had earned his title. ‘Wu Hou’ came from Zhuge Liang’s title, but the word ‘evil’ was added to describe his wickedness. Chang-Sun considered him the most dangerous among the old monsters in the Council of Elders.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ frowns and asks why all of them smell so insidious.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ thinks some of those people seem to be as powerful as apostles, which makes him wonder why their master doesn’t seem to have much Faith.]

‘They’re joining the trip? Executive Director Oh must be really fired up,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Although Chang-Sun didn’t know what exactly happened, even Executive Director Oh would have had trouble persuading Hyeon-Ryong to join in on this trip. It seemed he had to ask the smartest person he knew to take charge of this mission since he was too busy making deals with the U.S. He surely wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity to acquire the [Fifth Cryptical Book of Hsan].

Just then, Hyeon-Ryong approached and extended his hand to Chang-Sun. “You must be the Lee Chang-Sun that Executive Director Oh told me about.”

Shaking Hyeon-Ryong’s hand, Chang-Sun bowed. “It’s an honor to meet you.”

Despite his wrinkles, Hyeon-Ryong’s grip was firm. He was almost 90 years old already, but his physique’s age was dozens of years younger.

“You know of me?” Hyeon-Ryong asked.

“I only heard stories,” Chang-Sun quietly replied.

“Haha, the stories would have made me look very bad.” Hyeon-Ryong chuckled as he looked at Chang-Sun.

“Doesn’t that just mean that you’ve led a very decisive life?” Chang-Sun replied.

As if he hadn’t expected to hear such an answer, Hyeon-Ryong’s eyes widened. He then smiled. “… It seems you’ll walk down a path similar to mine, so I hope I can be an example.”

Just then…

Woosh!

[The ‘Hohwan Mama’ is trying to break in.]

Through Chang-Sun’s hand, Hyeon-Ryong fiercely infused a bit of mana to figure out the extent of Chang-Sun’s ability. If Chang-Sun let the Hohwan Mama break in, his magic integrated circuit could get ruined.

Clang!

[The Skill ‘Kalokagathia’ has been activated and installs a barrier upon concluding that the invading force was a curse!]

Hyeon-Ryong’s mana soon got bounced off, his eyes shining upon witnessing an unexpected reaction.

‘He’s on a higher level than a Gildal,’ Chang-Sun concluded.

The Hohwan Mama mixed with Hyeon-Ryong’s mana meant he was likely a demonic being that was stronger than a Ghost Soldier or Gildal.

‘I definitely should not let them live,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Considering countless people had to have been sacrificed to create demonic beings like those elders, Chang-Sun easily decided the fate of the three elders—no, the Council of Elders. They shouldn’t catch wind of his plan right now, though, so he just faintly smiled.

‘Are they… as strong as Joachim?’ Chang-Sun observed the three elders.

If other people knew what Chang-Sun was thinking, they would be shocked to their cores. After all, being in the same league as Joachim meant being at least a level 80 ‘Duke-Class’ Player.

Clap!

To loosen up the tense atmosphere, Executive Director Oh lightly clapped. “It looks like everyone has finished introducing themselves, so I’ll give a brief explanation now. As you all know, this business trip is to establish a solid relationship with Europe before we head to America. The three experienced elders here will be helping you during this trip, but keep in mind that you should never make mistakes, got it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Yes, sir! I’ll keep that in mind!”

“Yes, sir! I understand.”

“…”

Except for Chang-Sun, the Team L members nodded fervently and nervously as they stood in attention.

Executive Director Oh smiled gently. “Then off you go. I hope to see your names in tabloid newspapers when I meet you guys in the U.S. Hahahaha!”

Their business trip to the U.S. had begun.

* * *

“… Department Head Shim.” Woo-Chan looked at Geon-Ho very nervously while Geon-Ho watched Chang-Sun, the Team L members, and the three elders enter the departure gate. Just like Woo-Chan, Geon-Ho had tensed up with anger because Executive Director Oh also pretended as if he didn’t see Geon-Ho. It was the second time Geon-Ho had been ignored today after Joachim. No, it wasn’t anger that he felt anymore. He was now scared of Chang-Sun, who had successfully threatened his position within a matter of months.

“Keep what I said in mind,” Geon-Ho said.

“Yes, sir.” Woo-Chan nodded with a heavy heart.

“And…” Geon-Ho pulled out two letters from his pocket and handed them to Woo-Chan. “Deliver these as soon as you arrive.”

“Can I… ask what these are?” Woo-Chan carefully asked.

“One of them is a letter I’m sending to the Illuminati. If they’re capable of thinking, then they won’t see Lee Chang-Sun in a good light, so I’m trying to ignite ‘fire.’ The other is…” Geon-Ho trailed off.

“…?” Woo-Chan blinked.

“It’s for the Black Hand. For the Killer Overlord of Crna Ruka[4], to be precise.”

“…!” Woo-Chan turned pale upon hearing a name he didn’t expect to hear. The Killer Overlord was one of the Ten Overlords, the most famous Players in the world.

“So don’t make any mistakes. When you hand over the letters, you might receive something in return, but burn everything on site,” Geon-Ho instructed.

As his face hardened, Woo-Chan bowed. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“Then off you go.” Geon-Ho gestured at Woo-Chan with his chin.

Tucking the letters safely in his inner pocket, Woo-Chan walked away with his suitcase, looking a bit nervous. Watching Woo-Chan’s back, Geon-Ho narrowed his eyes and saw Chang-Sun, who was passing the checkpoint, over a glass wall.

Geon-Ho had confirmed through Director Kim Yeon-Seung that in ‘Yeti Hill,’ Chang-Sun killed Hong Gi-Nam, the Killer Overlord’s disciple, and exterminated the Black Ghosts. Hence, he planned to use that to make someone else kill Chang-Sun. No matter what Chang-Sun had accomplished, he wouldn’t be able to survive against the world’s best assassin. Even if he did, he would certainly sustain a severe injury.

‘You won’t be able to find out how I got here.’ Geon-Ho gritted his teeth and turned away when he couldn’t see Chang-Sun anymore. Because of that, he didn’t see Executive Director Oh, who happened to finish sending everyone else off, looking coldly at him.

* * *

Their flight’s plane was Air France AF0267. They were going to depart from Incheon and arrive in Paris.

‘Shoes, shoes, shoes….’ Gyeo-Ul nervously repeated in his mind as he got on the plane, remembering what Chang-Sun had told him.

The flight attendants, who were checking their tickets, became antsy for some reason. “S-sir?”

“Pardon?” Gyeo-Ul looked up while taking his shoes off.

“You should keep your shoes on…!” one of the flight attendants carefully said.

“…?” Gyeo-Ul stopped and blinked, not knowing what was going on.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ also blinks.]

1. A city in Korea ☜

2. This term is used to describe the phase that the Joseon Dynasty went through while developing into a modern form of state. Image of the suit. ☜

3. Jaegal is a Korean surname that came from China. The most famous man with this surname is Zhuge Liang. ☜

4. This is another name for the Black Hand. ☜